The time had come to retire my 15 year old fridge and as fate would have it, I got acquainted with LG SIGNATURE’s uber-slick stainless steel fridge at their launch event recently. It wasn’t really love at first sight but it did leave quite an impression on me.

Two months later, the fridge is now the centerpiece of my kitchen. After using it for a month, I must say that I have come to really appreciate the thought and attention to details that the LG engineers had put into it.

The fridge is big, bold and beautiful. Its minimalist, textured stainless steel finish and imposing, muscular contours easily commands the attention of anyone stepping into the kitchen. My previous fridge also had a “stainless steel” finish which lasted a few years before its “steel” laminate started to fade to reveal the plastic beneath. The LG promoter at Harvey Norman Millenia Walk assured me that the stainless steel on this fridge is the real deal and proceeded to demonstrate that magnets will not stick to the front of the fridge since it is genuine stainless steel! That means the fridge is going to look great for years to come but you won’t be able to stick any magnets onto the front of the fridge! (You can still stick them on the sides)

There are lots of special features built into LG SIGNATURE fridge. The most eye catching is the InstaView Door-in-Door feature. Knock twice on the glass panel and the contents of the fridge miraculously appear within the door compartment! Knock twice again and it disappears! This feature is great for families with kids who like to take frequent breaks from homework to check out what is in the fridge!

This section is design for easy access to frequently used items like milk, juices, eggs, sauces, etc. I thought it was quite gimmicky at first, but the family has come to use it a lot to assess items like eggs, milk and cold water. The smaller panel helps to reduce loss of cold air which occurs whenever you open the main doors of the fridge and has been shown to reduce cold air loss by up to 41%.

The other attention grabbers are the Auto Open Door feature where you step on the “Door Open” light projection on the floor in front of the fridge and the door gently opens. They tell me that the fridge is smart enough to tell the difference between a human and a pet, but I haven’t had the chance to test it as I don’t have any furry creatures at home. It is helpful if you have your hands full and need to open the door but we haven’t had to use it much.

There is also the Auto Open Drawer feature were the freezer drawers move forward when you open the freezer doors so that trays are easily accessible. At first this seemed quite redundant as I never needed it in my old fridge. Later I realized that the door trays are quite deep, so the drawers have to be pushed further back into the fridge which is more difficult to assess if you have difficulty bending down.

The deep door trays are one of my favourite features of the fridge. I use them to store my cooking ingredients like jars of sauces and pastes where they are visible and easily accessible. The trays are sturdy and also come with a bar that helps keep bottles snugly in place.

The internal compartment of the fridge is made of stainless steel which really gives it a slick premium look. The internal space of the fridge is also much larger than my old French Door fridge which is only slightly smaller. They managed to increase the internal space (984L) by making the walls thinner through the use of highly efficient Vacuum Insulated Panels (VIP). Thus there is a lot more space compared to fridges of similar footprint.

LG fridges are powered by their patented Inverter Linear Compressor technology which is quieter and more energy efficient than conventional compressors. Ordinary fridge compressors run at one one speed and maintain the fridge temperature by running at its highest speed till the internal temperature reaches just below the set temperature and stops. This start/stop cycle is less efficient than an Inverter Linear Compressor which is able to vary its speed according to the temperature in the fridge. This also means less temperature fluctuations in the fridge.

The LG SIGNATURE fridge has two linear inverter compressors in order to provide more cooling power. There is an express freeze function which can be activated on the LED panel when you need to quick freeze ice or meats.

Another very useful feature is the Custom Chill Pantry. This is a separate drawer right at the bottom of the fridge compartment where the temperature can be adjusted for meat, deli or produce. I use to store meat, fish and other items I will use for cooking in order to keep them separate from the fruit and veggies. This is important as you want to reduce cross contamination between food that you need to cook and those that are ready to eat. When set to “meat” the temperature in the custom chill pantry is kept at -1.5°C while the rest of the fridge is 3°C.

The drawers and shelves are sturdy, well constructed and the soft closing drawers are a joy to use. Just a nudge and the drawers slide smoothly back into their slots! They have designed it such that the plastic boxes sit on sturdy sliding rails which means you can easily remove the whole drawer when you need to wash it! Those of us who have struggled with conventional fridge drawers will really appreciate this design feature!

The fridge is very well lit and they have placed led lights in almost every corner of the fridge including under the edges of the shelves (Lumishelf). The construction of every part of the fridge is solid and well built. The deliverymen had trouble trying to lift the fridge up a small flight of stairs because of its sheer weight! They tell me that it is the heaviest home refrigerator they had ever had to deliver. In contrast, they had no problems removing my old fridge which is just slightly smaller!

The Cons

There are not much not to like about the fridge except that it is quite a large fridge and you might not need all that space. The price is also quite steep but you are paying for fridge that is built with no comprise. There is only one ice tray provided which seems a little small compared to the overall size of the fridge.

Conclusion

The LG SIGNATURE is a premium fridge built for those who are looking for a large capacity, solidly built fridge with un-compromised quality.

Korean home appliances are the best, right now. Well, aside from commercial grade manufacturers, like Wolf or SubZero. That door-in-a-door feature is quite handy, my aunt’s refrigerator from the 1970s also had that feature (admittedly, less high-tech though)!!

Joey

Are there any other home refrigerators on the market that feature a see-thru glass door?